Poll: Who Should Be Manchester United’s Starting Goalkeeper?

Manchester United recently lost to Liverpool in a very closely contested match at Anfield. The last goal by Kuyt, in my eyes, was easily stoppable if de Gea would have divede to smother the ball with confidence instead of whatever it was he did.

Notice I said WITH CONFIDENCE. David de Gea at many points looked very nervous not just against Liverpool but all season long. At one time, many would have been willing to give him a free pass because he is young and new to playing in the EPL, but now the excuses are running out. Considering the defensive issues that have plagued Manchester United this season, de Gea should be stepping up to do his part. Instead, fans have seen shocking losses come at the expense of his nervousness and let’s face it, when teams sense a nervous player, they will take to it like a shark takes to blood in the water. It was evident against Liverpool. After Kuyt scored the second goal, Liverpool looked hungry to finally put MUFC away even with 2 minutes left.

Anders Lindergaard has slowly but surely gotten more starts than de Gea and sooner or later Sir Alex will have to choose. It’s becoming clearer that Lindergaard is a better choice. He is confident, calm and clear minded. He communicates well with his defense and it shows. In his short stint at starting goalkeeper, he already has 7 clean sheets to de Gea’s 5. But it seems like de Gea has the advantage of youth and potential on his side and he was a big transfer coming in and that is what is blocking Lindergaard from being the number 1. Having said that, Lindergaard is now out for four weeks with an ankle injury.

Regardless, SAF has to decide who his number 1 will be going forward this term if he wants to be number 1 for a 20th time in the end.

I’m about as massive a United supporter one from the states, (who’s never had the privilege or money to actually go to England to experience them in person) can be. Goalkeeper was my position throughout my youth and now at a competitive adult city league. While I think most if not all of your criticisms of De Gea’s performance have merit, I think United’s defense should be equally to blame.

The decision to take off Scholes to go for the win was in hindsight an obvious mistake. It changed the game. United had full control up until that point. The change visibly gave Liverpool life, because they were seeing a lot more of the ball, and being at Anfield, that makes a difference in crowd expectation. Once United got it to 1-1, I felt that they’d either nick a goal in the same vein as Park’s and at worse they’d go to OT for a replay and win easily and advance.

The story for me is less about De Gea and more about United’s “bigger” players in the center. They got man handled by Faye and Ba at St. James’ Park and Andy Caroll dominated them last Sunday. Vidic is sorely missed on occasions where opposing teams have bigger forward players.

De Gea is 6’4″ but weighs under 170lbs according to ESPNsoccernet. I play keeper (in a competitive adult league in the city I live in). I’m 6’4″ and weigh 225 and I’m not overweight. If he’s ever going to improve his convictions for aerial balls, he needs to gain 25 lbs at least. The guy is a twig. I voted for him because his ceiling is very high.

Lindegaard is shorter and weighs about 195 lbs. Weight helps when you can throw it around as a keeper. Agility and reflexes are instinctive. Both can make incredible saves. Lindegaard has to be the choice for the moment, but De Gea without question can be, and should be the keeper for the long term.

Just to be clear on their statures Lindegaard and DeGea are both listed at 6’4″ with Lindegaard weighing just under 180lbs and DeGea weighing about 165lbs(estimates based on weight in kilos on espn soccernet). So Lindegaard weighs more, but is not shorter.

Fact: Lindegaard has never been goalie when we’ve played against a ‘big’ team. I think Lindegaard makes better decisions, but de Gea has incredible reflexes. De Gea is also incredibly young and he barely speaks English, he moved from a country whose football is much less aggressive, and he’s acclimating to a new place. Give him time. Remember Schmeichel for the first 6 months? We were all railing to get rid of him. SAF hand-picked de Gea out of five of the best goalies, so there’s definitely something to him.

As a fellow Liverpool supporter, I’m not that quick to show elation at seeing him against the Reds. That first game this year between Liverpool and ManU, De Gea was a monster. I haven’t been able to see as many games this year as I’d like, but from what I’ve seen he’s got great potential.

totally irrelevant, but i think man u shouldve got steklenberg before roma did, and have lindegaard as back up.
now to answer the question, i voted lindegaard because if you see him play, he looks more like a keeper than i think de gea ever will. de gea looks like a lanky reserve back up, not a starting keeper for one of the best teams in the league.

And Paul Scholes looks more like a milk man than a football player…and Messi looks like a sixth grader more than a football player. Nobody cares about how you looks because if you have technical ability and the proper mindset, you can play football at the top level.

De Gea will be fine. Problem is too many people look at each match as the last match or something. Anders made a few mistakes against City in the FA Cup after his top drawer save against Aguero (second goal, and goal-mouth scramble towards the end) but didn’t get too much slack.

Same with DdG, top class save against Maxi and then got lots of slack for his conceded goals. Sorry, but Agger wasn’t marked properly and you see no United player go shoulder to shoulder with him, they are all around his waist area when contact was made. And that goal by Kuyt was low and hard…DdG flicked his left foot out, but it crashed past him.

And clean sheets are just as much a tribute to the backline as it is just to the keeper. And did you know, all of DdG Premier League clean sheets have been away from Old Trafford?

It’s too early to call DDG as a bust: young, coming from a league where the protection of GK is different from Premiership. Even Lindegaard said that when he arrived @ OT, Eric Steele told him to forget almost everything he learned and learn new techniques.

Mental is the issue for DDG: he needs to build confidence and compose himself. A nervous goalkeeper affects the entire team, especially the defense. Schmeichel and Van Der Sar had experience but they were also very calm. Sometimes, this calmness is not related to experience but it’s a trait that possessed by certain goalkeepers.

Gigi Buffon was just 17 when he made his debut against the mighty AC Milan. I recall that time, watching him on TV (yes, I was fortunate enough to it on live broadcast), and immediately thought “Wow, he’s amazing, he’ll be a great goalkeeper”. On the other hand, you’ll see Sebastiano Rossi, former AC Milan goalkeeper, was 26 when started playign with Milan but was quite vulnerable against crosses but then he became an excellent goalkeeper, playing for 240 times in 12 seasons. Fabian Barthez is another example: he came to United as a World Cup winning goalkeeper, but he was too erratic: too impulsive.

I think another good poll question would be, which retired player would United rather have back: Paul Scholes or Edwin van der Sar? I think with a different keeper, Man U would still be in the Champions League and FA Cup.

I’m thinking De Gea would look a lot better if he had his full compliment of defenders in front of him. Losing the player of the year in Vidic has to shake things up quite a bit for the back line. Give the kid a chance to come around. We’re all too quick to judge.

Christian is right on the money here. De Gea would not have had the problems he has had this season if he was playing behind a settled defensive partnership of Vidic and Ferdinand. The back 4 has changed each week at United this season. That added to his age, build and adjusting to a new country have knocked the lad’s confidence. His reaction saves are amazing, give him time and he’ll be right

It looks to me like he is used to getting more protection from the ref’s in the Spanish league. Teams have worked out this season that if they put a big lad in the box and get physical then he’ll react to it. He spent most of the second half against Liverpool arguing with Andy Carroll and the ref rather than concentrating on his game

You can not blame De Gea for Kuyt’s winner. Evra, yes, but De Gea? People are watching the slow mo too much, Kuyt deserves praise, it was no error it was an excellent finish. Hit low and hard with real control to stop it rising.
If he’d dived with conviction? Really?
De Gea doesn’t know his defenders, he hasn’t got a clue how to deal with the physical jostling and his confidence is shot. He comes through this he can be a top keeper for 15 years for Utd, and stop them having to chop and change every couple of years before settling on an established world class keeper with 3 years left at the top.
Also, had he started his career with Vidic and Rio from a couple of seasons ago in front of him it would have been a much easier baptism of fire.
In other words show some balls and support a kid who could solve the hardest position to solve for a decades, or whine and cry about one single season while he is bedding in and get rid and start all over again.
It’s up to you, I don’t care, I’m a Liverpool supporter.

If your argument is that De Gea’s main problem is lack of confidence, then you need to partially lay blame with your manager. Having your backup keeper get off the bench and start warming up the moment you make your first mistake in a game is probably the quickest way to destroy confidence. He needs to be given time and support and the space to make mistakes. He’s a 20 year old kid for crying out loud! Is he really expected to step in fill the gloves of one of the best, most seasoned keepers in the world (van der Saar)? If so, that’s poor judgement on the part of those who put him in that role too quickly, rather than the player himself.